Kevin Harvick won Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, marking the second podium sweep in a row for Chevrolet and the sixth consecutive top 2 finish for Harvick.
Harvick led an overwhelming 142 of the 267 laps, triple the amount of the next most leading driver. A fast car helped Harvick through the race, but it began to go wrong for him in the closing laps. His No. 4 Chevrolet SS started producing a vibrating noise late in the day which appeared after his final pit stop, a problem he feared was going to end his and his team’s race.
“It got to be a handful there at the end,” Harvick told ESPN. “For whatever reason, we got really, really loose the last run. Tires started vibrating and we were just kind of hanging on. Glad the race is over for our own good.”
Following Harvick onto the podium was Martin Truex Jr., who has three top-eight finishes so far this season, along with last year’s Sprint Cup runner-up Ryan Newman. Dale Earnahrdt Jr. piloted the No. 88 Chevrolet SS to a fourth place finish for a Chevrolet sweep of the top four positions.
Not every Chevy driver experienced the same degree of success. Jeff Gordon started his weekend off strong after putting the No. 24 car on pole position Saturday, but a crash in practice forced him to use his backup car for the race, knocking him to the back of the grid. After a late-race wreck which damaged his front end, Gordon was forced to pit, contributing to an 18th place finish.
The closing laps from Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway can be seen in the video below. The NASCAR circus heads to Phoenix International Raceway on March 15 for the Campingworld.com 500, where Chevy and Harvick will be looking to build on this past weekend’s success.
No Comments yet